Aesculapius Nursed by Chiron and Ocyroe. A.M. 2741.

This is one of a group of drawings by British artist and book illustrator Edward Francis Burney, depicting scenes from Greek and Roman history and mythology. Aesculapius (or Asclepius), the god of medicine, was the son of the Olympian god, Apollo, and the mortal princess, Coronis. Apollo had placed Coronis on a funeral pyre as punishment for her infidelity but at the last minute snatched her unborn child, Asclepius, from her body. This drawing shows him as an infant, sitting on the knee of his father with the centaur, Chiron, who would later teach Asclepius the art of healing.